Paulina Torres (pictured, right, with other CCLers at a past lobby day) is a member of CCL’s Latinos Action Team. She says, “Por medio de CCL, siento que mis contribuciones están haciendo una diferencia en mi comunidad.”

How you can support Hispanic Heritage Month

By CCL’s Latinos Action Team

Hispanic Heritage Month, held from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, celebrates the cultures, contributions, and influence of Latinos to the history, culture, and achievements of the United States. 

September 15 was chosen as the beginning of the celebration because it is the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, who all declared independence in 1821. And Mexico celebrates its independence day on September 16.

As a community, we are the second-largest ethnic group in the United States. According to the Census Bureau, 60.6 million people in the U.S. are of Latino origins—that’s 18.5% of the nation’s total population. We are also very diverse. Our diversity is a tapestry of many issues that intersect with climate, like the economy, education, and immigration. Some Latinos communicate exclusively in Spanish, others only in English, and most use a little of both. 

As CCLers, we are guided by facts, and the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication has found that, in the U.S., Latinos are the most likely to be concerned about climate change, but the least likely to be engaged in solving it. Fully 71% of Latinos have never been approached by an environmental organization. Yet 60% of Spanish-speaking Latinos say they would join a climate organization if asked. CCLers know how to respond to a challenge with action! And we’ve got all the resources you need to start creating relationships with Latinos in your communities. 

The Latinos Action Team was created in 2017 to support outreach to Latinos across the United States. That team, known initially as the Spanish-Language Action Team, created climavivible.org, our main website in Spanish. We also translated the materials you can find under our Spanish Language Resources Page, such as Spanish-language infographics about the Energy Innovation Act, Constituent Comment forms, Online Action Tools, and more.

We encourage you to share the website with your fellow CCL volunteers, your friends, and on your social media platforms. You can copy and paste the following inviting tweet: “#Latinos Te invitamos a conocer un poco sobre Ciudadanos por un Clima Vivible. Visítanos en climavivible.org #ContaminarNoDebeSerGratis” which simply says, “We invite you to learn more about CCL in Spanish. Visit us at climavivible.org.” 

Other ways you can support our Latino outreach efforts:   

• Join our meetings. The Latinos Action Team meets the second Thursday of the month at 5 PST/8 p.m. EST. The meetings are conducted in both English and Spanish, so no worries if you only speak one.
• Learn best practices for outreach. Review the Latinos Action Team Guide to Community Relationship-Building to get more information regarding outreach to Latinos.
• Use our Spanish-language materials. Put Spanish flyers on your tables, mention our Spanish language efforts, even if you don’t speak Spanish. People feel welcomed when they see their language.
• Share our online action tools in Spanish, so folks can write, call and tweet their Representatives in their native language. 
  • cclusa.org/escribir — Write your Rep
  • cclusa.org/llamar — Call your Rep
  • cclusa.org/tuitear — Tweet your Rep
  • cclusa.org/clm — Monthly Calling Campaign
• Encourage Latinos to vote. You can do this by sharing our CCL Spanish-language voting page: cclusa.org/votar. Voto Latino and Poder Latinx are other great resources to follow and share their content. 
• Connect with Latino conservatives. Learn and support the work of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly, which promotes Hispanic-American issues and interests within the Republican Party, and the Party’s interests and candidates within the Hispanic-American population. They have chapters throughout the country, including in Arizona, Florida, and Texas.
• Connect through Catholicism. Since the majority of Latinos identify as Catholic,  you can help by supporting the Season of Creation. From Sept. 1 to Oct. 4, Christians around the world are praying and caring for creation. CCL’s Faith Leaders Action Team is sponsoring this series along with the Global Catholic Climate Movement, the Laudato Si’ Generation, the Evangelical Christian Action Team, and the CCL Catholic Action Team. Each weeknight at 9 p.m. ET,  there will be an ecumenical meditation on climate change and Laudato Si’. Registration for the next couple of weeks is available here. 
• Support the Latino Equality Alliance (LEA). This group advocates for equity, safety, and wellness for the Latinx Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer + community. 
• Remind Latinos about the census. We want Latinos and all communities to know that there is a Sept. 30 deadline to submit their Census. The Census helps ensure proper distribution of resources, and underrepresented communities benefit from accurate counting.
• Host a movie night or a book reading during Hispanic Heritage Month. The diversity teams provided these book recommendations earlier this year.
• Follow our social spaces. In Spanish, we have CCL en Español on Facebook, Clima Vivible on Instagram, and CCL en Español on Twitter. In English, you can find the Action Team on Facebook and Instagram as CCL Latinos.
• Share information about #HispanicHeritageMonth or #LatinxHispanicHeritageMonth that deals with your respective communities. You can also use the hashtag #MesdelaHerenciaHispana in Spanish.